Storms in New York

Although they’re probably not reading it right now…here’s some best wishes to those weathering Hurricane Sandy in New York. The hardest part of a storm can be its aftermath. In that vein, some of our New York colleagues are still watching another approaching storm: the merger of Penguin and Random House. Those with jobs in those houses will feel it first and worst, but we are all going to be affected, and it’s hard to predict how the literary landscape will be altered by it.

Nina Lindsay is the Children's Services Coordinator at the Oakland Public Library, CA. She chaired the 2008 Newbery Committee, and served on the 2004 and 1998 committees. You can reach her at ninalindsay@gmail.com

Comments

At least two affected by Sandy are reading this. Roxanne (aka fairrosa) and David had to evacuate their Battery Park City apartment (last time they did so was 9/11) and are staying with me uptown while daughter Lily is staying a block away with her best friend. I fortunately didn’t lose power and we both have loads of time (school is cancelled again tomorrow, we assume because there is no public transportation yet)so we are reading and talking up a storm. We look forward to more posts and conversations here!

So glad that Roxanne and Monica are safe and snug. And reading! That is great news.

On the merger front, it really frightens me to see the gradual shrinking of the number of publishers. The bright spot is that there are still many imprints, but I continue to worry about the diversity of the marketplace and the ability of the giants to shove the smaller folks out of the way. One way libraries can help is to be looking for those small pubishers shiny best and promoting them.

I’m not sure I’d consider Candlewick a small press. Maybe Lerner shouldn’t be considered one either, but their fiction output is relatively small compared to their nonfiction, so my top three small press books would be . . .

“Independent” is a good take on it. It’s worth noting too that–at least from an outsider perspective–the imprints that have been swallowed by the behemoths seems to be able to maintain some editorial “independence.” I don’t know how much though their acquisitions are affected by the sales department… design/printing choices affected, etc. Candlewick, as an example of a great independent, has beautiful, unique, and stand out bindings and printing quality. Jon Klassen has also talked about shopping around I WANT MY HAT BACK…and that it was finally Candlewick who understood the genius in the ending and wanted it “hang” the worried-adult response. Not sure whether or not the Senior Editors within the big 6-5-4 can make that happen anymore. I’m sure it differs from house to house.

I got endless amusement out of my first hurricane’s name. I can’t blame her for raging. That’s exactly how I feel when people call me Sandy!

Seriously, I wasn’t really affected beyond a headache from the low pressure and a couple days off work. Though I’m glad they had the sense to close down government — so the downed trees and power outages didn’t cause more trouble. (I’m in northern Virginia, near DC). My heart goes out to those much harder hit on the north side of the storm & closer to the coast.

About Heavy Medal

Jonathan Hunt is the County Schools Librarian at the San Diego County Office of Education. He served on the 2006 Newbery committee, and has also judged the Printz Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. You can reach him at hunt_yellow@yahoo.com

Nina Lindsay is the Children's Services Coordinator at the Oakland Public Library, CA. She chaired the 2008 Newbery Committee, and served on the 2004 and 1998 committees. You can reach her at ninalindsay@gmail.com

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